


a foolish, fragile spine (i want all that is not mine)

by kay_emm_gee



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 23:59:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_emm_gee/pseuds/kay_emm_gee
Summary: She would not leave Cassian to face death alone{ prompt: 'things you said too quietly' }





	a foolish, fragile spine (i want all that is not mine)

All Nesta could see was the king coming for them, for  _him_ , and all thoughts of trying to flee vanished. She would not leave Cassian to face death alone.

A sob, one last futile wish–then her body was on top of his. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck. She heard the surprised hitch in his breath, felt his arms come around her in a last effort at keeping her safe. The gesture made her want to cry out, so she just nestled tighter against Cassian and pushed her pain and panic down.

Underneath the sweat and blood, she could smell his fear, the sharpness of his regret, and the faintest bit of rage–rage that they did not have the time they should have. Nesta couldn’t muster up the same fire and fury. She had spent it all along with the Cauldron’s gift. Instead, a gaping pit of emptiness festered inside her chest, ravenous and destructive and numbing. She could not,  _would not_  feel anything, except the rasp of his breathing and the pounding of his heart and the twist of her own heartstrings when he repeated his words from before, over and over:  _I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I promise. I–_

 _“–love you,”_  Nesta breathed, and waited for Hybern’s killing blow.

(It never came, but others of a different kind did– _father’s blank eyes, Elain’s bloody hands–_ and she let their weight bury those three words six feet under, stifled by silence until she could believe she had never spoken the truest thing she had ever known aloud in the first place). 


End file.
